Our next post series will be previews of the upcoming conference tournaments. I’m not personally a huge fan of them, but they’re here and never going away, so there is no use not embracing their presence and occasional excitement.

So over the next few weeks, be on the lookout for a number of posts from me outlining the history of the major (and a few mid-major) conference tournaments, as well as posts from Andy previewing this year’s conference tournaments, which always go a long way towards determining who’s in and who’s out in March, as well as seeds, whether they should or not.

This being Midwest Sports Fans, where else would I start but with the Big Ten?

Big Ten Tournament History

The Big Ten Tournament actually has a shorter history than many of the post-season conference tournament tournaments. It started in 1998, and if I remember correctly many of the old school coaches like Bob Knight weren’t big fans of it. But just as with college football conference championship games, conference basketball tournaments were inevitable, and so here we are.

Michigan won the first Big Ten Tournament, in 1998, but later was forced to vacate that entire season. So I guess there is no official champion for 1998? The same goes for 2002, when Ohio State won the Big Ten Tournament. They too had to vacate that season’s results.

So of the first five Big Ten Tournament champions, two had to relinquish their crowns. How’s that for an auspicious beginning!

Fortunately, the last nine champs have all been able to hold onto their crowns. Hopefully that lasts.

Also, I have to give credit to whoever designed the logo used for the Big Ten Tourney. The wheel with all the school primary and secondary colors is very cool.

For Indiana fans like me, the Big Ten Tournament holds precious few positive memories, save for Indiana’s run to the title game in 2001 where the Hoosiers ultimately lost to an Iowa team featuring IU legend Steve Alford as coach and IU transfer Luke Recker as player.

Otherwise, it’s been pretty unsuccessful, with one especially epic loss coming at the hands of Blake Hoffarber:

The records of Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota all reflect the games that were vacated because of program malfeasance.

Indiana may have the most prolific NCAA Tournament history of any Big Ten school, but its Big Ten Tournament history sucks. The Hoosiers are just two wins away from having the worst record in Big Ten Tourney history, and only three of those appearances were Crean’s, so it hasn’t just been bad the last three years.

Illinois has been surprisingly good in the Big Ten Tournament. The Illini probably had the tournament’s most memorable run when they went from #11 seed all the way to the title game. The Illini also went from the #10 seed to the title game just a few years back. So maybe it’s a good thing if Illinois keeps losing this year. Might give them a better shot at the automatic bid.

Only three times has a team seeding lower than #2 won the Big Ten Tournament, but teams seeded 6th or lower have made the title game seven times, which is exactly half.

What does this tell us about what we should expect from this year’s Big Ten Tourney? That either Ohio State or Michigan State will likely win it, and that there is about a 50/50 chance that a middle-of-the-pack team like Purdue or Illinois or Minnesota could get hot and make a run at the title game.

Personally, I’ll be rooting for Northwestern if Indiana doesn’t make a run. The Wildcats may be slipping out of at-large NCAA Tournament consideration, but they still have a chance to get their first crack at the Big Dance with the Big Ten’s automatic bid if they can go on a run in Indianapolis.

Here is another table that breaks down the year-by-year results.

Big Ten Tournament Past Champions, MVPs, Sites

Year

Big Ten Tournament Champions

Big Ten Tournament Runner-Up

Score

Big Ten Tournament MVP

Big Ten Tournament Site

1998

Michigan

Purdue

76-67

Robert Traylor

United Center - Chicago

1999

Michigan State

Illinois

67-50

Mateen Cleaves

United Center

2000

Michigan State

Illinois

76-61

Morris Peterson

United Center

2001

Iowa

Indiana

63-61

Reggie Evans

United Center

2002

Ohio State

Iowa

81-64

Boban Savovich

Conseco Fieldhouse

2003

Illinois

Ohio State

72-59

Brian Cook

United Center

2004

Wisconsin

Illinois

70-53

Devin Harris

Conseco Fieldhouse

2005

Illinois

Wisconsin

54-43

James Augustine

United Center

2006

Iowa

Ohio State

67-60

Jeff Horner

Conseco Fieldhouse

2007

Ohio State

Wisconsin

66-49

Mike Conley

United Center

2008

Wisconsin

Illinois

61-48

Marcus Landry

Conseco Fieldhouse

2009

Purdue

Ohio State

65-61

Robbie Hummel

Conseco Fieldhouse

2010

Ohio State

Minnesota

90-61

Evan Turner

Conseco Fieldhouse

2011

Ohio State

Penn State

71-60

Jared Sullinger

Conseco Fieldhouse

2012

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

2013

United Center

2014

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

2015

United Center

2016

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

As mentioned above, Andy will have a preview of this year’s Big Ten Tournament coming up soon, and we’ll have coverage of all the conference tournaments throughout the next several weeks.